A Little Bit Vampy

by A. A. Albright

  ‘What?’ I stared at him. ‘Why would you say that?’

  ‘Ash … that night …when Vlad’s Boys dumped me in the middle of nowhere, they compelled me to forget what had happened in that warehouse. But if I was able to fight them on everything else, I would have been able to fight them on that, too. Pru was right, Ash. I forgot the events of that night because I wanted to.’

  ‘And no one could blame you for that,’ I said softly.

  ‘But I blame me! I blame me, Ash. All along, I knew the truth. I knew the main players, and I pretty much compelled myself to forget, because it was all a little bit too much to bear. All of this is my fault. So … how can you still be here, with me, when it’s my fault things went so far?’

  ‘Your fault? I’m the one who insisted on using fae blood to cure the virus. If it weren’t for my meddling, Vlad’s Boys would have no idea what our blood can do. They’re only able to rouse the vampires against the fae because of me.’

  I felt a heavy weight on my stomach, and looked up to find Fuzz staring at us through his yellow-green eyes. ‘If I tell you you’re both great big dummies, and each one of you is as much to blame as the other, will that end this stupid row and let me get back to sleep?’

  I stroked his little head. ‘Sorry, Fuzz.’

  ‘Don’t be sorry. Just be quiet. Oh, and it’s five to midnight, so you’d better get up on the roof.’

  There was a soft rap on the door. ‘That’ll be Jared now,’ I said. ‘Time to go see if owls really are as wise as the rumours would have us believe.’

  13. Alvis

  Dylan and Jared greeted each other briefly, with some very manly grunts and nods, before Jared and I went out through the French doors and climbed the steps up to the widow’s walk.

  ‘Explain to me again why I’m here,’ he said.

  ‘Because even though you don’t realise it, you are just as powerful as Pru. The owl couldn’t communicate with me last time, but Pru could get into its mind. You should be able to, too.’

  He scratched his head. ‘It’s nice that you have confidence in me, but … maybe my mam would be better.’

  ‘Your mam’s working with the Wayfarers right now, trying to figure out a way to compel Greg.’

  Jared winced. ‘Well … I doubt that’s going to work. Pru was always the most powerful one in our family, with me a distant second and Mam and Dad bringing up the rear. If Pru fell victim to Greg, then Mam doesn’t stand a chance.’

  I gave him a tight smile. ‘I love your positivity, Jared.’ I pointed to the sky. ‘On a lighter note, here comes the owl.’

  The yellow-eyed, tawny owl swooped down, landing on the railing of the widow’s walk. Jared couldn’t see it, but I could tell by the expression on his face that, just like Pru, he was able to sense its presence.

  The owl looked right at me and opened its beak. Nothing came out but the usual owl sounds. I had expected as much, though, seeing as it had been trying unsuccessfully to communicate with me for quite some time.

  ‘This is Jared,’ I told the owl. ‘He’s a vampire. One of the good guys. I know you’re trying to help us – you wouldn’t have stolen the Impervium locket from Darina and given it to Dylan otherwise. So … try and focus on Jared. He’s able to read minds, so let him read yours. Tell him what you want to tell me.’

  The owl turned its head in Jared’s direction and hooted. The longer it hooted, the more troubled Jared became.

  ‘What’s the matter?’ I asked. ‘Can’t you hear it?’

  ‘I can,’ said Jared. ‘I can hear its real voice in my mind. But … it wants to use me as a medium. That’s Pru’s forte, not mine.’ He gave me a sheepish smile. ‘But I know what you’re going to say. Pru’s not here, so I’ll have to man up and give it a go.’

  I gave him a soft jab in the arm. ‘You can do it, Jared. I know you can.’

  He laughed and said, ‘You’re the most sarcastic cheerleader in the history of cheerleaders, do you know that?’ before taking a deep breath and closing his eyes.

  There were a few seconds of silence, until finally Jared opened his mouth again. When he did, his voice sounded different. There was a trilling tone to it, as the owl began to speak through my friend.

  ‘I am Alvis,’ he said. ‘And yes, I have been trying to help you.’

  ‘You’re Bella Foyle’s familiar, aren’t you?’ I asked. ‘So why, Alvis? Why are you helping us and not her?’

  The owl fluffed up its feathers, then through Jared it said, ‘Because I was wrong. I was wrong in choosing her as my witch, and now I’m trying to make up for that mistake. When I was a young owl, I saw a witch who needed wisdom and guidance, a witch I thought I could shape and grow. But that just shows you I shouldn’t have been so sure of myself. Because I couldn’t shape Bella. She was a fully-formed psycho from the moment she was born.’

  When he’d called her a psycho, he hadn’t said it angrily. If anything, the owl looked heartbroken.

  ‘Why can’t you speak, Alvis?’ I asked gingerly.

  ‘You’ve guessed it has something to do with Bella. Well, you’d be right. It happened just before she had those vampire children burn down the school. I begged her to change her mind. In order for her to return from the dead with all of the power and immortality she craved, an entire school filled with children and teachers had to die. I thought – I hoped – it was just a crazy scheme that she’d soon grow tired of. I thought perhaps it was the influence of Ronaldo the Righteous, and that she’d soon tire of him and their horrible plans. But it soon became clear that she was going to see it through right until its maniacal end. Even when Ronaldo bowed out, and told her he didn’t want to be with her, that he’d been wrong to even speak of an idea like Vlad’s Boys, Bella kept right on going with the plan. I tried to stop her, of course, to appeal to her conscience.’ He shook his head. ‘But it seems she does not have one of those. Eventually, Bella said she was tired of listening to my lectures. So she used a spell that would take away my ability to speak to her – to speak to anyone in fact. Since then, when I open my beak, all that comes out are the hoots of a normal, non-magical owl.’

  I gasped, and the owl (through Jared) said, ‘Told you. Total psycho. Anyway, when Bella died, I did as all familiars did and died along with her. When she was resurrected – or rather when she possessed the body of the history teacher – I came back too. She couldn’t see me, and her spell meant that I still couldn’t talk, even now. I didn’t realise at first. I thought I could go to you and tell you everything, Aisling Smith, and nip this latest madness of hers in the bud. But I opened my beak, and nothing came out.’

  ‘Why did you keep flying away from me, though?’ I asked. ‘At the old school, on the beach, and that time you came to talk to me at the Daily Riddler, you just kept flying off. Even when I had Pru with me, ready to read your mind, you left before we got the chance.’

  Jared was quiet for a moment and then, in Alvis’s strange voice, he said, ‘I am quite ashamed to admit it, but for some time I didn’t know I was a ghost. That would have made Bella laugh, I tell you. She used to tell me I wasn’t half as wise as I thought myself, and that I was nothing more than a smartarse know-it-all annoyance.’

  ‘Wow.’ I looked in sympathy at the bird. ‘So much for the witch-familiar bond.’

  ‘Indeed,’ Alvis agreed. ‘But she was right, in a way. I wasn’t as wise as I thought myself because, as I said, I had no idea I was a ghost. I certainly don’t feel any different than when I was alive. So that’s why I flew away each time I tried to communicate with you – because Bella turned up on each of those occasions. Although you didn’t yet know she was Bella. In Miss Eager’s body, she was on the beach with Ronaldo the Righteous, she was at the school, and she was in the town when I went to your offices. I was afraid she would see me trying to talk to you. If she had, she would have punished us both. When I finally realised I was a ghost – and therefore invisible – I decided to use it to my advantage. I stuck close to her so I could discover h
er plans and tell you what they were.’

  I looked carefully at the owl. Just as with Rita, I was inclined to believe him. He really was here to help us, despite being Bella’s familiar. ‘What are they, Alvis? What are Bella’s plans? What are Vlad’s Boys going to do next?’

  There was another quiet moment before Jared replied as the owl. ‘They have discovered that the lock on all the fae enclaves is derived from one source. And they intend to destroy that source, invade the fae territories, and murder your people. They’ll be making their move as soon as the moon is full, and they’ll arrive at the source at sundown that night.’

  I sat back against the slope of the roof, feeling like the wind had been knocked out of me. I knew my moon calendar as well as any werewolf. If Alvis was telling the truth, then they were striking the night after tomorrow.

  I already knew they were going after the fae, but I had no idea they knew how to get through my grandmother’s doors. If it was true – if they really did know – then we barely had a full two days to prepare.

  ‘But … how?’ I said, in a gasping voice. ‘It’s impossible for them to get through. And even if they do, they’ll be face to face with thousands of my grandmother’s people. Powerful people. What is it they have, Alvis? What’s making them powerful enough to break through to the sióga enclaves, and to kill us all once they get there?’

  The owl looked at me through sad, world-weary eyes, and then, through Jared, he said, ‘They can do anything, Aisling Smith. Now that they have the Staff of Wrath.’

  I stood bolt upright. ‘That’s what it’s called? This object they’re drawing on? What is it, though? Where did they get it? And how do we fight it?’

  Once again, Alvis looked weary. ‘They stole it from a vampire called Cassandra. And as for how you fight it, well … I’m not so sure you can.’

  14. The Monster

  I didn’t sleep much after our meeting on the roof. Obviously there was a couple of hours spent telling everyone what the owl had told me, but even after that I couldn’t get my brain to shut off. During my few snatched moments of slumber, I dreamt about Bella Foyle and Darina Berry, cackling like the evil witches they were.

  Dylan left early to go for a run before work, and I fed Fuzz in the empty kitchen of the Vander Inn. It felt like there was no one else in the entire building.

  ‘That’s because there isn’t,’ said Fuzz, when I voiced my thoughts. He swallowed another mouthful of tuna and said, ‘I was on my way out to see Princess Preciousbottom when the mass exodus happened. Nollaig and Jared went out with all of the Wayfarers. They said they were heading for Greg’s.’

  ‘Oh.’ I sipped at my coffee. ‘I wish I’d known. I would have gone with them.’

  ‘Nollaig and Gretel wanted to wake you, but Jared said you needed your sleep.’

  ‘Did he now?’

  Fuzz shrugged his little furry shoulders. ‘I thought it was very caring of him, myself. He’s still a bit sweet on you if you ask me.’

  I finished my coffee, quickly rinsing the cup. Fuzz’s plate was now empty, so I washed that too. I was ever so tidy when I was irritable. ‘No he isn’t. Anyway, don’t you have some more sleeping to do?’

  He stretched and yawned. ‘Now that you mention it, I could do with a bit of a nap.’ He rubbed himself against my legs, before sauntering out of the kitchen. ‘Adieu, my witch,’ he called behind him. ‘Until we meet again.’

  I watched him go, laughing beneath my breath. I suddenly thought of Alvis. He’d never known a relationship like this with his witch. When Fuzz said something I disagreed with, I listened to him. When Alvis did the same, Bella took away his voice.

  I was in the middle of thinking such uplifting thoughts as this, when the back door swung open and Jared entered the kitchen. He was wearing yesterday’s clothes, and there were dark rings beneath his eyes.

  ‘Hello you,’ he said. ‘I hope you got some sleep last night and didn’t just stare at the walls.’

  ‘Of course I didn’t get any sleep,’ I retorted. ‘You should have woken me if you were going to Greg’s. Dylan too. Riddler’s Edge is his jurisdiction. He and I should have been there.’

  Jared wandered over to the kettle, taking it to the sink and filling it. ‘Want some tea or coffee?’ he offered. ‘I could make you some eggs, too. You always like eggs when you’re tired and grumpy.’

  ‘I’m not grumpy,’ I lied, crossing my arms.

  ‘Yes, you are. You’re angry because we all went off last night and left you and Dylan to get some sleep. And I get it, I do. But I didn’t see the point in having you along. It was never going to work, and after everything we learned from the owl last night, you need to rest before tomorrow’s full moon.’

  Darn him and his sensible attitude. I could feel my grumpiness sliding away. Maybe Fuzz was right – not about Jared being sweet on me, obviously, but about him being a caring sort of chap. ‘Well, thank you,’ I said, leaning back against the counter. ‘So what happened at Greg’s then? I know your mam and the Wayfarers headed over there too. It didn’t go so well?’

  ‘No,’ he said with a sigh. ‘It didn’t. I couldn’t compel Greg, but I should have known that it wouldn’t work anyway. I guess I just felt a bit overconfident after helping you with Alvis last night.’

  I moved closer to him, giving him a shoulder-bump. ‘You were amazing last night. You should feel confident.’

  His face flamed, and he cleared his throat. ‘So anyway. Greg em … he started to compel the Wayfarers and they just sidled off, believing all of his excuses. Even Gretel walked away.’

  I shook my head in amazement. ‘That’s … I mean … but Gretel was with us when Rita revealed Greg was a member of Vlad’s Boys. Surely knowing that, they would have taken precautions to make sure he couldn’t compel them.’

  ‘They did,’ said Jared. ‘But all the devices and blocking spells in the world wouldn’t have helped. Greg’s too powerful. So now they only know what he wants them to know. Anyway … after that my mam went off to have a drink with Grace. I was going to head into Lunas’ Nightclub, but I got a little waylaid on Warren Lane.’ He began to fiddle with his mobile phone, handing it to me with a video on the screen. ‘I recorded this last night. It doesn’t make for pretty watching.’

  I looked down and hit the play button, my legs feeling weak as I watched the video Jared had filmed.

  Hundreds of vampires were gathered on the steps of the Wyrd Court, demanding to know if the cure for the dayturner virus could be used against them. Some of them were less reasonable, standing there with flaming torches and screaming, ‘Kill the fae before they kill us!’

  There were Wayfarers on the street, but they were doing nothing to stop the protest. ‘Why did no one break it up?’ I wondered. ‘Screams of “Kill the fae!” hardly count as lawful protest, do they?’

  ‘That was the scary thing,’ said Jared. ‘I don’t know how – maybe they’re drawing on the power of this Staff of Wrath to help them – but it’s like Vlad’s Boys have compelled the entire Wayfarer force to just not give a crap. I spoke to Commissioner Wayfair last night, and to Finn Plimpton too. Ash … it was like talking to a couple of zombies.’

  He looked me in the eye, his own ice-blue eyes filled with sympathy and fear. ‘When we face these guys during tomorrow’s full moon, we might well be doing it alone.’

  I gazed down into my washed and dried coffee cup, wondering if now might be a good time to fill it with some brandy, and then put my feet up and just surrender.

  ‘The vampires have all gone home now,’ Jared continued. ‘They said they’re only going to protest by night, like true vampires.’ His face was pinched and pale. ‘This is bad, Ash. It’s like all of that Vlad’s Boys nonsense has taken hold of most of the vampire community. I know it’s only because they’re scared. But scared people do stupid things.’

  He wasn’t wrong there. ‘Between the Staff of Wrath,’ I said, ‘and Greg and the Vlad’s Boys gang being able to compel just about everyo
ne, it’s like they have the whole world under their spell.’

  ‘Everyone except us,’ Jared said. ‘Greg didn’t even bother to try and compel me, or Mam, even though he could have done so. He wants us to know what he’s doing. He wants us to suffer. It’s like he’s turned into a monster.’

  ‘He has,’ I said hoarsely. ‘He’s turned into the monster of Pru’s prophecy. And seeing as that’s the case … what’s he going to do next? In the prophecy, Dylan murdered Greg just to hurt Pru. Who’s Greg going to kill?’

  Jared bit his lip. ‘Anyone we love, no doubt. We’re all at risk, Ash.’

  My heart began to beat a little too fast, and I was having trouble breathing. I loved Greg. Even now, no matter how awfully he was behaving, I wanted to believe that my loveable lollipop-muncher was still in there, somewhere. ‘I have to go, Jared. I have a lesson with my grandmother. She’ll be really upset about this. And I need to tell her more about what the owl told me last night.’

  ‘Maybe she’ll have heard of this Staff of Wrath,’ suggested Jared. ‘I wish I knew more about it myself, but I’ve only met Cassandra a couple of times. And she isn’t exactly a big talker.’

  ‘Dylan said Cassandra hasn’t made any reports of theft. Do you know where she lives? We could go and talk to her after I’m done with my granny.’

  He shook his head. ‘Pru knew her address, but she’s hardly likely to tell us now, is she? But your granny should know where she lives. She knows everything.’

  ‘Sure. Everything except how to put an end to Vlad’s Boys. Anyway, I’d better go. I should warn you, though – I have to use the Travellers’ Tune, because I can’t get to the sióga enclaves by clicking my fingers. I’ll try to sing under my breath, but if you do happen to hear some of my caterwauling escaping while you’re sitting here drinking your coffee, then please cover your ears.’

  He gave me a searching look. ‘Do you think … do you think your granny might mind if I came along for the ride?’